Study finds charters schools are losing teachers
Florida charter schools are having difficulties keeping teachers.
UF researchers have found that Florida’s charter schools lost about 10 percent of their teachers in the 2011-12 and 2014-15 school years, said Nancy Thornqvist, the project manager of the study. The turnover rate for that time was 4 percent at traditional public schools.
Normally, when researchers look at turnover, they see how many teachers left at the end of the academic year, she said.
“A lot of them will tough it out until the end of the school year and switch in the summer,” Thornqvist said.
But teachers at charter schools were switching in the second half of the school year, she said.
The study didn’t look at why teachers at charter schools switch jobs, Thornqvist said.
When teachers leave during the school year, it can hurt students’ learning, she said. Teachers brought in halfway through the school year may not get the same training as teachers brought in during summer.
“Any school, whether it be a traditional school or a charter school, wants to always be improving,” Thornqvist said.
- Caitlin Ostroff
UF researchers create purple limes
You could come across a purple lime and red orange in Florida in the near future.
Manjul Dutt and Jude Grosser from the UF Citrus Research and Education Center genetically modified limes to contain specific genes found in grapes and blood oranges, which are a specific type of orange with a red center.
The limes were created using orange and grape genes in an effort to replace the traditional method of using green fluorescent proteins from jellyfish, which are used as color markers to track genes.
“What we wanted to do was utilize a reporter gene system that was from plants itself and therefore more consumer friendly,” Dutt said.
The new color marker, anthocyanin, is an antioxidant that has multiple health benefits, Grosser said.
The limes were developed using genes from the “Moro” blood orange and the “Ruby Seedless” grape and could be seen on the market for purchase in a couple of years, Grosser said.
Grosser said the plant would serve as more of a niche product, as an ornamental plant, but the hope is the plant will be able to change public opinion on genetically modified agriculture.
“There’s a lot of negativism against GMOs, so it might help in convincing the public to view them in a more positive light,” said Grosser.
- Alena Poulin
Research study participants have more trust in science
UF researchers have found people who participate in research studies have a greater trust in science.
Over five semesters, from 2013 to 2015, UF researchers studied how participation in research affects students’ trust in science among students enrolled in a UF course called The Insects.
Mostly non-science majors took the course, said Andrea Lucky, a co-author on the study.
At the beginning of the course, Lucky said she asked students about their trust in science. At first, students gave neutral responses and said they had some knowledge and trust.
“People came into the course, as we expected, not knowing very much about the topic,” she said.
During the class, students participated in a research project, she said.
When students completed the project, they were asked about their trust in science again. Even if students didn’t gain a lot of knowledge about insects, they showed more trust.
“It seemed like students were really able to make this leap,” Lucky said. “Trust in science does increase, even if knowledge in content does not.”
- Caitlin Ostroff
